The photograph is part of the documentary archive that portrayed the economic and social difficulties in rural areas of the United States caused by the Great Depression.

Source(s):

.- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. "Negro mother teaching children numbers and alphabet in home of sharecropper, Transylvania, Louisiana, January 1939." The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

I've been building a daily puzzle based around U.S. presidential history.

You get a 3x3 grid of categories and have to identify a president who satisfies the clues for each square.

It gets surprisingly difficult once you get beyond the obvious presidents.

If anyone here wants to try today's:

https://gridofminds.com

The US government encouraged, incentivized, and subsidized homeownership for Whites in the early 20th century, while the Federal Housing Administration’s policy of redlining prevented Blacks from participating in this act of citizenship. To alleviate the ever-present housing shortage for Blacks, the 1968 Fair Housing Act created the first low-income homeownership programs using subsidies, long amortization periods, and mortgage insurance guarantees to entice participation of the real estate industry.

Unregulated mortgage banks saw an opportunity to make money on FHA loans by charging high origination fees, servicing fees, and “discount points”–money paid by the borrower before making the first loan payment. When a loan went into foreclosure, since the front-end fees and discount points were paid first, mortgage banks had already made their profit on the loan. With the FHA guaranteeing the full amount of the loan, mortgage banks made more money on foreclosed loans than on loans paid off at maturity. They also packaged multiple mortgages and sold them to GNMA, allowing them to free up capital to originate more mortgages. GNMA was required to purchase these mortgage-backed securities at 100% of face value without any assessment of soundness. With the backing of GNMA, long-term investors didn’t have to worry about foreclosures adversely affecting their investment; FHA mortgage insurance didn’t protect the homeowner, it protected the investors.

With rising demand for mortgage-backed securities, poor, Black women were increasingly targeted for low-income homeownership programs because of their high likelihood of foreclosure. To get loans approved on substandard properties, appraisers were paid to provide inflated valuations with later investigations showing as many as 88% of appraised Section 235 properties having “significant deficiencies affecting safety, health or livability.” The US housing market that for decades had been one of racial exclusion, was transformed by HUD-FHA into one of predatory inclusion by removing financial risk for the private sector while extracting savings from the ghetto and reinvesting the money in White suburbs. The failure of the 1970s homeownership programs increased the wealth of Whites and reinforced their perception that Blacks destroy value, while a generation of Americans born in the 1960s and 1970s grew up believing that suburban housing appreciation and urban neighborhood deterioration were natural phenomena.

Recommended reading: Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Predatory Loans Were Developed for Black Borrowers

What dialectical materialist message have you learned about self-determination?

I always wanted to know this since it was the parliament who passed navigation, sugar, and stamp acts and why they never mention parliament?

Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency was a mixture of triumph and controversy. He expanded the executive branch’s power, challenged entrenched interests, and redefined America’s global role. His actions, however, raised questions over the limits of Presidential power and the moral justification for military intervention, such as in the Philippines, as well as the Panama Canal. Roosevelt’s Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War was a testament to his diplomatic prowess. Yet, his foreign policy sometimes veered into aggression. His conservation efforts were visionary, while his imperial ventures sparked debates.

Hi! I'm a young writer currently developing an original historical-fiction musical called Aaron Burr: A Careful Man, centered on the life of Aaron Burr.

The musical will follow Burr's life, political career, relationship and rivalry with Alexander Hamilton, the Hamilton duel, and the aftermath of his actions. My goal isn't to portray Burr simply as a hero or villain, but to explore him as a complicated historical figure and allow the audience to form their own interpretation of him.

A major focus of the musical is Burr's psychology—particularly his restraint, carefulness, concern with reputation and legacy, and belief that controlling himself and his public image is the best way to survive. I want the story to show how those qualities gradually become destructive as social, political, mental, and emotional pressures build until he finally breaks.

I'm currently in the concept and research stage, so I haven't written the actual songs yet. Right now I'm developing the story, characters, themes, structure, and historical foundation.

One of my biggest priorities is making sure the historical side of the musical is responsible and well researched. I'm looking to connect with historians, history students, researchers, public historians, or anyone knowledgeable about Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, the American Revolution, the Early Republic, or the political and social world of the period.

I'd especially appreciate perspectives on historical accuracy, Burr's relationships and motivations, the political context, and where dramatic interpretation can reasonably exist without distorting the historical record.If you're interested in historical storytelling or Aaron Burr's history, I'd love to connect and tell you more about the project!

The redesigned Timelines Game is now faster, cleaner, and much more interactive. The new UI makes placing events on the timeline smoother with improved drag-and-drop, clearer insertion zones, better card animations, flexible game lengths, and a streamlined leaderboard. After finishing a game, you can also review your mistakes directly on the timeline, with missed cards visually highlighted for quick learning and replay.
It’s FREE to play — up to 5 cards without logging in, and unlimited games once you log in.
https://history-maps.com/timelinesgame

I created the above visualization of my great-great-great grandparents' migration to communicate how bonkers their lives were. They all travelled on the Mormon trail. I wrote more about their experiences here on substack, check it out if you are interested in mid-19th-century Utah history. First paragraph below:

"29 of my 32 great-great-great grandparents migrated to the Western United States as part of the Mormon Exodus; the other three were born in Utah after their parents had made the trek. 15 of them traveled from their homes in the British isles; the other 14 came from the Eastern or Midwest United States. Despite the fact that they lived in a time when most people could only travel as fast as a horse could carry them, their birthplaces and death places are separated, on average, by 3,176 miles. 25 of them died in Utah, six in other locations in the American West, and Eliza Dyer died in childbirth near Council Bluffs, Iowa, a stop on the Mormon Trail. She had no help. She and her twin babies were buried in the same coffin."

A lot of people remember Louisiana Purchase as simple land speculation, but Napoleon never actually intended to sell it off.

His original plan was to turn Louisiana into agricultural supply depot for France’s sugar colonies in the Caribbean. That whole strategy fell apart when yellow fever and the Haitian Revolution wiped out over 30,000 veteran French troops. Broke, facing a looming war with Britain, and unable to protect territory across the Atlantic, Napoleon dumped 828,000 square miles overnight for around $15 million.

Of the 50,000 veterans who came to Gettysburg, fewer than 10,000 were Confederates.

C.S.A. Veterans, Gettysburg, Pa., 1913
 
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller
 
Notes:
Title from unverified data provided by the National Photo Company on the negative or negative sleeve.
50th Reunion of Gettysburg veterans.
Photo shows North Carolina "Tar Heel State" banner displayed.
Gift; Herbert A. French; 1947.
This glass negative might show streaks and other blemishes resulting from a natural deterioration in the original coatings.
 
Subjects:
United States–Pennsylvania–Gettysburg.
 
Format: Glass negatives.
 
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
 
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
 
Part Of: National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

Call Number: LC-F81- 44564

Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the size of the USA overnight, but it was never about clever American diplomacy.

In this video, I explain the real history behind the Louisiana Purchase, why France gave up 828,000 square miles, and how Thomas Jefferson pulled off the greatest land deal in American history.

https://youtu.be/ERNHPTlW9qU?si=L5Uvl7dTdd2iuFNM

This historic photograph was taken by Black American photographer Richard Aloysius Twine (1896-1974).

The image belongs to the historical archive of the National Photo Company and is preserved under the public domain in the Library of Congress of the United States.

Due to severe damage sustained from bullet impacts in combat, the flag was sent back to Texas along with a letter to the state governor from the regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin F. Carter (who would later be mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863). In the letter, Carter briefly but movingly recounted the history of the flag and the battles in which it had flown. The flag remained in safekeeping until the eve of the Union troops' entry into Austin, Texas, in April 1865. Sergeant Val C. Giles and other soldiers of the 4th Texas retrieved the flag and buried it on the banks of Barton Creek near Austin. After Reconstruction ended and the federal occupation began, Sergeant Giles kept the flag until the early 20th century (around 1902), at which point he gave it to the United Daughters of the Confederacy for safekeeping. The flag is currently on display at the Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.